Joel Jackson, president of the Organized Village of Kake and longtime tribal leader, dies at 70

Lifelong Kake resident was a tribal council member for more than 35 years, and advocate for Indigenous rights, environmental protection and cultural healing

Organized Village of Kake President Joel Jackson speaks to a Juneau crowd about the importance of the Tongass National Forest on Sept. 13, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Independent)

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

This is a developing story.

Lifelong Kake resident Joel Jackson, who served as president of the Organized Village of Kake for the past eight years and a tribal council member for more than 35 years, died Saturday at Mount Edgecumbe Hospital in Sitka, according to family members and tribal officials.

Jackson, 70, a member of the Kàach.àdi clan and a child of the Tsaagweidi clan, was diagnosed earlier this year with pancreatic cancer. Tributes to him were shared Saturday by tribal leaders and others throughout the region.

"I think the thing when I think about Joel is just he was a fierce advocate," Chalyee Éesh Richard Peterson, president of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, told the Juneau Independent on Saturday evening. "He was often at every kind of consultation and meeting involving our way of life, and he was never afraid to stand up and say what needed to be said."

Laaganaay Tsiits Gitanee, a Kake resident who sponsored a GoFundMe to help with Jackson’s treatment, stated in a social media post Saturday that "He loved our Native peoples deeply and spent his final night in the Tongass, his homelands where his spirit has always lived."

Jackson during his life worked as a road builder for the Kake Tribal Corporation for 22 years, Kake’s chief of police for three years and as a commercial fisherman. His advocacy included protection of the Tongass National Forest, subsistence and other Indigenous rights, obtaining an apology from the U.S. Navy in 2024 for its 1869 bombardment of Kake, and Alaska Native cultural healing projects.

Peterson, when asked what advocacy by Jackson first comes to mind, said "I think first and foremost was probably trying to protect our lands — he was very staunch on the roadless issue and trying to retain the roadless protections. But he's also very concerned about healing and I know it was one of his goals to see a healing center built."

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.